Property Owners

CA should focus spending narrowly Once again, the civic leaders of Howard County have asked the Columbia Association to provide funds for what should be a county-wide issue - the preservation of slave quarters. More disconcerting is the fact that the Columbia Association Board of Directors is likely to approve funds to preserve the property. The Columbia Association is neither a government nor a charitable foundation. It is a homeowners' association, albeit a relatively affluent one. More than half of its revenues are generated by assessments on all of the property owners of Columbia.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has appointed a three-member panel to distribute up to $3 million to the owners of historic properties whose tax bills in coming years will be higher than what government officials told them to expect. Retired Baltimore City Circuit Judge John M. Glynn, City Auditor Robert McCarty, and City Solicitor George Nilson will decide which owners will get the checks, which will cover portions of up to nine years of future tax bills. About 75 property owners submitted applications that could make them eligible to receive the checks, city officials said.

THE PROBLEM Baltimore property owners paid their tax bills, but the payments weren't properly processed. THE BACKSTORY Carol Foster of Phoenix couldn't understand it. She paid the property tax on her husband's dental office on Harford Road in July when the bill was due. But, in December, the couple received another letter. Foster thought it was another invoice. "I said, 'What, I've got to pay this twice a year now?'" she said. It was actually a notice to pay the taxes owed or the property would be sold at tax sale.

First, let me say that I am not opposed to rental units in Ocean City . I live on a canal in Montego Bay and directly across from my home is a huge home rented every week during the season. I have seen some horrific antics but have never complained. They only stay for one week. I agree that either the real estate agents or the owners should enforce whatever rules apply to that unit or neighborhood. My problem with The Sun's editorial ( " Ocean City 's rental rage," Aug. 19)

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has appointed a three-member panel to distribute up to $3 million to the owners of historic properties whose tax bills in coming years will be higher than what government officials told them to expect. Retired Baltimore City Circuit Judge John M. Glynn, City Auditor Robert McCarty, and City Solicitor George Nilson will decide which owners will get the checks, which will cover portions of up to nine years of future tax bills. About 75 property owners submitted applications that could make them eligible to receive the checks, city officials said.

Erica Carter's move from Pasadena to Baltimore was difficult, she said, not because of the lack of housing options, but because many places would not allow her pit bull Bailey. Though Carter has settled into a rental near Patterson Park, she said the search was daunting. And she fears it will only get worse with her next move after last week's Maryland Court of Appeals ruling that pit bulls are inherently dangerous animals. The court's decision could have far-reaching implications for landlords and dog owners who rent.

The nation's home and rental property owners continued to upgrade their properties at a healthy clip in the second quarter, with no letup from the first quarter's pace, according to the National Association of Home Builders' Remodeling Market Index, released last week. The index also found that remodelers in some markets are reining in their expectations. The index has two related parts, one that measures current market conditions and another that measures future market expectations. The index for current conditions in the remodeling market held steady at 52.7 for a second consecutive quarter.

WASHINGTON -- Homebuyers, owners and vacation property investors nationwide should be the prime beneficiaries of a new Clinton administration effort to cut environmental red tape for small-scale real estate holders.Effective Sept. 25, the federal government overhauled the way it treats "Mom and Pop" real estate owners whose property contains -- or might contain -- what the federal government defines as a "wetland."Even though the wooded home-site lot you bought is bone dry virtually the entire year and is miles away from the closest stream or shoreline, it still may meet the federal government's standards for a wetland because of its soil composition or plant life.

For years, the only way Baltimore code enforcers could prod property owners to fix problems - if asking didn't work - was taking them to court. Now the city can slap them with a fine. And it intends to. "We're going to be increasingly relying on citations for enforcement," said Michael Braverman, the city's deputy commissioner for permits and code enforcement. "We want the message to get out: Respond to the violation notice. Don't think about waiting for a summons to appear in District Court.

Crofton property owners will be asked tonight to approve a 1997 tax district budget of $574,000, a 1 percent increase over the current spending plan.Under a change in the Crofton Civic Association bylaws approved a year ago, a budget that includes an increase over the previous year may not be adopted without a membership vote. Under the old bylaws, the budget was approved by the association board of directors.Residents can either approve the spending plan or send it back to the board for changes.

I could not agree more with your editorial regarding the minor privilege tax ( "Minor privilege, major disincentive," Aug. 13). While the article was business focused, this absurd tax also hits the residential property owners in the city. A couple of months after purchasing a home in Baltimore City in 2012, I received a bill for a minor privilege tax. Being new to the city, I had no idea what this tax was. After a couple of phone calls I found out that I will be charged a $193.25 yearly fee for having a second floor bay window on my house and for a 5-inch piece of conduit that runs under the sidewalk in front of my house.

Renting a spacious home in Ocean City for a week — a popular summertime escape for many from the Baltimore area — may soon be outlawed. Local officials are discussing a ban on short-term rentals across a number of large neighborhoods in the vacation town, as a response to complaints about rowdy parties and crowded streets. Though high-schoolers have for years descended in droves during Beach Week to sunbathe, dance and drink, some say the problem is spilling over to quieter districts of single-family homes such as Mallard Island and Caine Woods.

The apartment company involved in a dispute over alleged sign-stealing by Democrat Connie DeJuliis' state Senate campaign in northern Baltimore County has issued a statement defending her and asking both candidates in the race to remove their signs from the Parkville property. Connie DeJuliis' husband, J. Ronald DeJuliis, the state's commissioner of labor and industry, has been charged with stealing campaign signs from his wife's primary opponent, incumbent state Senator Jim Brochin. Dan D. Zaccagnini, a spokesman for Apartment Services Inc., whose Loch Bend Apartments were the site of the alleged crime, said DeJuliis has been granted permission to put her signs there.

The city will conduct its annual tax sale this month in an effort to boost tax rolls, but some critics say it's a quick fix that contributes to one of Baltimore's most entrenched problems - vacant properties. City officials scheduled about 10,000 tax liens to go to auction this year. That's a small fraction of the 240,000 properties that owed money on property taxes or other city bills as of July 1, and less than half of the roughly 23,800 listed in advertisements in March. Those properties represented about $125 million in unpaid bills.

As Anne Arundel County officials begin spending money from new stormwater fees on environmental projects, they're hoping to make it easier for property owners to appeal the fees. Since the fees were billed for the first time last summer, more than 300 property owners have appealed. More than one-third of appellants missed the Aug. 15 appeal deadline, but the Department of Public Works is reviewing their appeals anyway. Chris Phipps, the county's director of public works, is seeking approval of a bill before the County Council that would legally allow this year's late appeals to be considered.

The Maryland Department of the Environment has not followed up on at least 900 rental housing units with hazardous lead paint whose owners failed to maintain annual registration with the agency, state auditors have found. In a letter this week to a joint House-Senate committee, the Office of Legislative Audits said that in the past three years the MDE has reduced but not eliminated a backlog of rental housing units that need checking to find out why they are no longer registered as available to tenants with young children.

Washington -- If you own or ever plan to buy any form of real estate, you should be aware of a piece of significant legislation simmering in the Senate.It's called the Omnibus Property Rights Act of 1995 (S. 605). It's not to be confused with a more limited "Contract with America" property owners' relief bill passed in March by the House. In fact, the Senate's bill reverses the familiar pattern established thus far in the 104th Congress: On this issue, it's the Senate that's come up with the big, bold solution, while Newt Gingrich's Republican revolutionaries settled for less.

Louis Singer, owner and operator of Singer Realty Inc., who helped establish the Property Owners Association of Greater Baltimore Inc., died Tuesday of cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was 82 and lived in Lutherville. In the late 1940s and 1950s, Mr. Singer practiced law with Benson Gross and Morton Perry in Baltimore, representing many real estate developers and builders. He began buying and managing properties in 1945, concentrating his real estate interests in the Edmondson Village, Northwood, Homestead and Lake Montebello neighborhoods in the city.

The Howard County Council approved legislation Wednesday to declare the Long Reach Village Center a blight zone, which will allow the county to purchase and redevelop portions of the property. The passage of the law, which declares the area "an urban renewal zone," is required for the county to purchase the property, because county code prohibits the government from owning and operating a commercial operation within its jurisdiction. The council passed the bill 4-1, with Greg Fox, the lone Republican on the council, voting against.

The recent article highlighting issues with snow removal struck a chord with me ( "Plenty of snow this winter brings plenty of fines, too," Feb. 26). I live in a neighborhood where everything I need is within a seven block walk of my house. This includes work, shopping and socialization. I've spent a frustrating winter slipping and sliding on icy sidewalks left for me by neighbors and businesses alike. I fully side with the time limit for removing snow. If a person waits too long, the snow becomes trampled and turns to ice. I was very aggressive about reporting scofflaws this winter.